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Mousa Dembele

What does he offer offensively? He beats 3 men but then ends up behind them and has to lay it off backwards or sideways. He breaks up all attacking emphasis and allows defences to get back and set.

He's a good defensive sub for AM if we want to stifle a game. But most of the time he blunts us with his ponderousness.

There was one time in the second half that fit this description perfectly. After dribbling past 3 players he found himself wide right with no decent options and surrounded by Sheffield United defenders.
 
What does he offer offensively? He beats 3 men but then ends up behind them and has to lay it off backwards or sideways. He breaks up all attacking emphasis and allows defences to get back and set.

He's a good defensive sub for AM if we want to stifle a game. But most of the time he blunts us with his ponderousness.

I think you're massively simplifying this. Dembele is a talented footballer who offers a different set of tools to someone like Mason. It doesn't make him ineffective in my view. The job of the head coach/manager is to harness a collective's individual strengths to get them to work effectively for the overall unit. Mason's high intensity and energy really does suit Pochettino's vision right now it would seem. This for me doesn't make Dembele useless.

Dembele's ability to dribble past players is a big attribute and one that can change the shape of a rigid opposition. Moving him further forward is worth looking at again. He has previously spoke about how they need to move the ball quickly, a clear indication to me that Poch has spoken to him about it and that he is willing to at least try and adapt his game to suit. He needs to work on shooting a little more, the guy has a belting shot when he does actually get it off. He has the tools to be effective in certain scenarios. I think it's far too simple a view to say Dembele is a bad old spurs player.
 
What does he offer offensively? He beats 3 men but then ends up behind them and has to lay it off backwards or sideways. He breaks up all attacking emphasis and allows defences to get back and set.

He's a good defensive sub for AM if we want to stifle a game. But most of the time he blunts us with his ponderousness.

I think you need to watch the game again before making a statement like that.
 
I think you're massively simplifying this. Dembele is a talented footballer who offers a different set of tools to someone like Mason. It doesn't make him ineffective in my view. The job of the head coach/manager is to harness a collective's individual strengths to get them to work effectively for the overall unit. Mason's high intensity and energy really does suit Pochettino's vision right now it would seem. This for me doesn't make Dembele useless.

Dembele's ability to dribble past players is a big attribute and one that can change the shape of a rigid opposition. Moving him further forward is worth looking at again. He has previously spoke about how they need to move the ball quickly, a clear indication to me that Poch has spoken to him about it and that he is willing to at least try and adapt his game to suit. He needs to work on shooting a little more, the guy has a belting shot when he does actually get it off. He has the tools to be effective in certain scenarios. I think it's far too simple a view to say Dembele is a bad old spurs player.

Gutter boy undermines any decent views he has with this childish, i don't like player 'A' thing he does. Defoe and others, now dembele.
Moose was class last night, i was at the game and he ran the first 60 mins. Everyone there knew it and showed it when he went off.
He isn't the ball player mason is, but in games like last night where we want to defend from the front, be physical, compact and hit on the counter he is perfect!
The amount of times he opened up massive amounts of space with a shimmy or a turn was priceless, he also made 3 key passes…ineffective yh??
If he can use tonight to push on again it would be a massive bonus to this football club.
However GB has made up his mind so will wheel out the same old lines regardless of how he plays….yawn!!
 
I don't think he did anything useful - good strength, but he was just dribbling round in circles.

I prefer him at AM to CM, just because he can't harm our transitioning speed from there.

We've really missed Chadli this past week and a bit though.

I have not witnessed this fast paced attacking football that we play without Dembele other than the Chelsea game where in fact Dembele was the key figure.
 
Gutter boy undermines any decent views he has with this childish, i don't like player 'A' thing he does. Defoe and others, now dembele.
Moose was class last night, i was at the game and he ran the first 60 mins. Everyone there knew it and showed it when he went off.
He isn't the ball player mason is, but in games like last night where we want to defend from the front, be physical, compact and hit on the counter he is perfect!
The amount of times he opened up massive amounts of space with a shimmy or a turn was priceless, he also made 3 key passes…ineffective yh??
If he can use tonight to push on again it would be a massive bonus to this football club.
However GB has made up his mind so will wheel out the same old lines regardless of how he plays….yawn!!

if i could like a thousand times, i would.
 
Dembele was class last night, and has shown a noticeable improvement for last few games - seems to be developing an understanding with Stambouli although was playing the more further forward of the three.

For me, we dont have another CM like him - someone with such strength who can go past a man like hes not there. Need him, just still not sure where his best position is....
 
Dembele was class last night, and has shown a noticeable improvement for last few games - seems to be developing an understanding with Stambouli although was playing the more further forward of the three.

For me, we dont have another CM like him - someone with such strength who can go past a man like hes not there. Need him, just still not sure where his best position is....
One of his best games was Liverpool away the season before last playing on the right.
 
That is complete and utter nonsense.

So being 15 yards away from when he dribbled past 3 defenders and laid it back to Mason (one of the only times there was any product from his endeavours) doesn't give me better perspective than watching a buffering river on a small tablet?
 
So being 15 yards away from when he dribbled past 3 defenders and laid it back to Mason (one of the only times there was any product from his endeavours) doesn't give me better perspective than watching a buffering twelve-wired bird-of-paradise on a small tablet?
Were you sitting with Sheffield United?
 
So being 15 yards away from when he dribbled past 3 defenders and laid it back to Mason (one of the only times there was any product from his endeavours) doesn't give me better perspective than watching a buffering twelve-wired bird-of-paradise on a small tablet?

But you said you had a better view than anyone other than the people who went to the game? not everyone streamed the game on a tablet and most probably watched it in HD.

You obviously got abit of snow in your eye when dembele took on 3 - 4 players on the edge of their box and laid it off for Kane to hit it wide? Or the counter attack where he receives the ball in the middle of the park turns and lays it off to Lamela only for Lamela to walk into 3 players? pretty sure they are 2 positive pieces of play and that is just off of the top of my head.
 
Gutter boy undermines any decent views he has with this childish, i don't like player 'A' thing he does. Defoe and others, now dembele.
Moose was class last night, i was at the game and he ran the first 60 mins. Everyone there knew it and showed it when he went off.
He isn't the ball player mason is, but in games like last night where we want to defend from the front, be physical, compact and hit on the counter he is perfect!
The amount of times he opened up massive amounts of space with a shimmy or a turn was priceless, he also made 3 key passes…ineffective yh??
If he can use tonight to push on again it would be a massive bonus to this football club.
However GB has made up his mind so will wheel out the same old lines regardless of how he plays….yawn!!
I agree 100% Dembele was a very big part of our dominance last night I thought. Good work rate, good ball retention and some quality alongside that ball retention. There were a couple of occasions when I felt he could've laid the ball more quickly, but the positives last night massively outweighed the negatives.

I find it strange how GB always seems to criticise Dembele for being too slow on the ball but on the other hand likes Lamela, who I think is guilty of the slowing the game down more than anyone else in our team (now that Capoue is no longer in there) and always want to stop whenever he receives the ball, also what is that stupid thing he always does where he rolls his foot over the ball a couple of times when receiving it? It serves no purpose other than letting his opponent to get in position and well balanced.
 
I have been very critical of Dembele but he was excellent last night, countless times he had some clever turns and dribbles which gave us space and platform for a counter. He played a great ball for Mason after some incredible dribbling and also a great run in second half to put in Kane on goal. I think he showed he can be good backup to Eriksen in the 10 role and more importantly we don't need to see Ade or Soldado partnering Kane. Kane as the lone striker is clearly our best option.
 
even though it may not amount to nothing immediately he is causing some chaos as well as efficiently wearing the opposition down. he retains possession and gets fouled more times than other dribblers too (taraabt comes to mind), and puts in a good defensive shift too.

he is so silky that our players tend to just stand and watch instead of moving into a position to help. hopefully poch will nail down a position for him so that the understanding and anticipation can follow.
 
Dembele's issues tend to revolve around the final third, which I put down to poor decision making/football intelligence

I do think (and it showed last night), that when you have Fazio, Chadli, Dembele, Stambouli, Kane in the team, we have a much greater physical presence and are less likely to be bullied out of games.
 
I am way more confident with Dembele in midfield playing than any of the other midfielders. He isnt as effective, needs to improve on that, but he retains the ball, rarely loses it and buys us a few seconds when under the cosh. He is also one of the best dribblers ive seen.
 
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